UN’s Free & Equal Campaign video gave me chills

The video, a part of a global education campaign for LGBT equality[1], from the United Nations gave me chills for two reasons. First, it’s chilling in a creepy, scary kind of way to hear out loud that a person's sexual orientation and/or gender identity is punishable by death at worst and legal recourse at best in 76, I repeat sev-en-ty-six, 76 countries. Yikes! That should be enough to move any anti-violence activist into hyper drive[2].

In a less creepy, more hopeful kind of way, I got chills because I feel privileged to be a part of an age where major global institutions identify heterosexist discrimination and violence as unacceptable. This, combined with recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings on DOMA[3] and having the first U.S. president who supports marriage equality, makes this an epic age.

It’s starting to feel like the tides are turning. Not too long ago I dreaded the daily headlines. Now, I read many more hopeful stories. I learn about how members of the press are learning to report the news[4] in a way that disrupts victim blaming. And, like the Free & Equal Campaign[1], huge institutions surprise me with hopeful initiatives.